The Trans-NIH GeroScience Interest Group (GSIG) cordially invites you to its winter seminar, featuring Dr. Rita Effros. Dr. Effros is a Professor of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine in the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles. She directs research programs in the areas of aging and HIV disease, with emphasis on immunity to infection. Both aging and HIV disease are characterized by the loss of immune control over viral infections and by increased cancer incidence. In turn, these are affected by T cell dysfunction. Dr. Effros and colleagues have been at the forefront of studies on replicative senescence, telomeres and telomerase underlying this dysfunction. They have documented the existence of populations of T cells that increase with age and with HIV disease progression and which have overlapping molecular characteristics. They also examine the functional aspects of senescent T cells that may contribute to multiple pathologies of aging and AIDS, and are attempting to reverse or retard the process of replicative senescence in human T cells through manipulation of telomerase activity.

The GeroScience Interest Group (GSIG) was formed to enhance opportunities for discussion of the intersection between the biology of aging and the biology of disease and conditions that are of interest across ICs. It is focused on basic biology, but with a longer view towards translation. If you are interested in learning more, please visit the GSIG web site (http://sigs.nih.gov/geroscience/Pages/default.aspx).

Sign Language Interpreters will be provided. Individuals with disabilities who need reasonable accommodation to participate in this event should contact Dr. Alison Deckhut at augustine@niaid.nih.gov or at 301/496-7551 or Dr. Ron Kohanski at kohanskir@mail.nih.gov or at 301/496-6402.

The NIA recently released a set of new funding opportunities for palliative care research. These opportunities "highlight to the scientific community our interest in promoting research at the intersection of two disciplines—geriatrics and palliative care—that share many of the same approaches to clinical care," explains Dr. Basil Eldadah, Acting Chief of the Geriatrics Branch in the NIA Division of Geriatrics and Clinical Gerontology.

The NIA blog publishes weekly with information on grants and funding policy, research priorities, scientific meetings, and topics of interest to researchers and others in the scientific community. Subscribe to get it weekly in your email inbox, or grab the RSS feed.

Increased physical activity has been linked to numerous health benefits, including improved cardiovascular and respiratory health, insulin sensitivity, bone and muscle strength, and cognitive function. In addition, physical activity is associated with reductions in coronary heart disease, stroke, some cancers, type 2 diabetes, and depression. For most health outcomes, benefits increase as the amount of physical activity increases through higher intensity, greater frequency or longer duration, although the magnitude of these benefits diminishes with advancing age. The NIH Common Fund is exploring strategies to help the research community develop a more integrative perspective on the molecular and cellular mechanisms through which physical activity improves multiple health outcomes.

The NIH is committed to understanding the needs of the research community and supporting high-impact research. To that end, we encourage visionary ideas that will advance the field’s understanding of the mechanisms by which physical activity contributes to health. Please go to this Request for Information to submit comments on this topic.Comments are being accepted through December 31, 2013.

What does the science say about dietary supplements and complementary and alternative health approaches for Alzheimer's disease, dementia, and cognitive health? While some dietary supplements have been marketed with claims that they enhance memory or improve brain function and health, research is ongoing to determine whether they may have any effect on the progression of cognitive decline or Alzheimer’s disease.

NIA is co-hosting a Twitter chat with the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) on Wednesday, December 18 at 4:00pm Eastern Time to talk about what we know and answer questions about ongoing research in this area. In addition, we'll discuss some of the research that’s looking at exercise and other mind and body practices, which have shown promise in treating some symptoms related to dementia, as well as for alleviating stress among caregivers.

Each year, the National Institute on Aging publishes a funding policy for medical research grant applications. This policy is of great interest to scientists and researchers seeking funding and others in the research community.

The interim funding policy and paylines for fiscal year 2014 are now available. In a new blog post, Dr. Robin Barr, director of the NIA Division of Extramural Activities, describes the temporary paylines and how they might change over the course of the year. "Hopefully we will be able to pay more applications once Congress enacts a budget or continuing resolution that covers the entire fiscal year," he explains.

The NIA blog publishes weekly with information on grants and funding policy, research priorities, scientific meetings, and topics of interest to researchers and others in the scientific community. Subscribe to get it weekly in your email inbox, or grab the RSS feed.

The Dementias: Hope Through Research looks at the range of dementias, including Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, frontotemporal disorders, dementia caused by traumatic brain injury, and others. The publication describes each condition, how dementia is diagnosed and treated, and the latest research.

These resources are jointly published by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), both part of NIH.

Ever wondered what it's like to work for the National Institute on Aging? Postdoctoral fellow Jennifer Illuzzi has a new blog post about her NIA research job and how it differs from other opportunities available to scientists. "When I was choosing between postdoctoral opportunities after finishing up my Ph.D..." she explains," it’s the training and career development opportunities that most made the NIA stand out."

The NIA blog publishes weekly with information on grants and funding policy, research priorities, scientific meetings, and topics of interest to researchers and others in the scientific community. Subscribe to get it weekly in your email inbox, or grab the RSS feed.

A new report sponsored by the National Institute on Aging at NIH and the U.K. Economic and Social Research Council and produced by the National Research Council, suggested that national surveys might begin to seek information on “experienced” well-being – the self-reported levels of contentment, stress, frustration, and other feelings people experience throughout the day and while performing different activities. These could be tested on a pilot or experimental basis on surveys, to start, to resolve methodological issues in the approach. The report, “Subjective Well-Being: Measuring Happiness, Suffering, and Other Dimensions of Experience,” was issued December 4, 2013, by the National Research Council of the National Academies.

The report emphasized the importance of gathering survey data on the particular measure of experienced well-being, which includes feeling happy and secure, as well as misery and suffering. Such data would be useful in informing specific actions and policy decisions intended to improve the living and working conditions of different population groups, including children or older adults, and could help in developing specific policies and practices relating to end-of-life care, commuting, child custody laws, city planning, patients undergoing medical treatment, among others.

Interest in measuring subjective well-being has grown in recent years, as some researchers have begun to question whether traditional economic measures, such as gross domestic product, can adequately reflect the quality of life of a population or country. This report focuses on experienced, or subjective, well-being, but notes that well-informed policy decisions must also consider evaluative and eudaimonic aspects of self-reported well-being. Evaluative well-beingreflects a person’s assessment of his or her overall life satisfaction, while eudaimonic well-being refers to a person’s perceptions of purpose, and the meaningfulness (or pointlessness) of the activities they are engaged in.

Collecting data on experienced well-being has already begun in some studies of the health and quality of life of older populations in the United States and in other countries. Such measures have already been included in the NIA’s Health and Retirement Study and the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ American Time Use Survey. The report identified other government surveys – such as the American Housing Survey and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics – that could include questions about experienced well-being. The report stated that questions have also been included on a pilot basis in the broader population surveys of the U.S. statistical agencies, as they have been in the United Kingdom.

Measuring vitamin D binding protein (VDBP) may be important for accurately determining vitamin D deficiency, especially among African Americans, reports a team of researchers led by the National Institute on Aging, NIH, in the November 21, 2013 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Vitamin D deficiency is more commonly diagnosed among African Americans than in white Americans. However, the poor skeletal-bone health associated with vitamin D deficiency is less common in this population—African Americans generally have higher bone density and lower risk for fragility fractures than white Americans. This suggests that the vitamin D deficiency as it is currently diagnosed is likely inaccurate. With this study, researchers were able to evaluate the potential role of VDBP, the protein that carries vitamin D throughout the body, in assessing clinically significant vitamin D deficiency.

The team measured levels of vitamin D, calcium, and VDBP, as well as bone density, and analyzed the genetic form of (genotyped) VDBP in NIA’s Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span (HANDLS) cohort, a study comprised of community-dwelling blacks and whites initially aged 30 to 64 residing in Baltimore, Maryland. They found that, compared to whites, African Americans had lower levels of vitamin D and VDBP, but higher bone density and higher levels of calcium, another micronutrient important to bone health. Genetic analysis of participants’ VDBP indicated that African Americans were more likely to have one form of the protein and whites another. The version of VDBP more prevalent in African Americans, but also seen in some white participants, was associated with lower levels of the binding protein and lower levels of vitamin D.

Researchers suggest that low VDBP may have a protective effect against the symptoms typically associated with lower vitamin D levels and clinically relevant vitamin D deficiency. Therefore, rather than diagnosing and treating vitamin D deficiency based on only lower vitamin D levels, clinicians may also want to account for VDBP in their assessment, especially in African Americans. Routine Vitamin D supplementation should be carefully considered in the context of the finding of this study.